Anisotropic resist reflow process simulation for 32 nm node elongated contact holes

Abstract

In general, it is very hard to correctly predict the elongated contact hole resist reflow process ( CH RRP) due to position shift and pattern size irregularity of RRP, because simple RRP simulator uses isotropic resist flow. Therefore RRP simulator was upgraded which can correctly predict the elongated CH RRP by adding the bulk effect and anisotropic reflow. Optical proximity correction for 32 nm node was also applied to the elongated CH RRP to correctly predict the anisotropic elongated CH. The experimental and simulated CH patterns after RRP were compared and found that the simulator can correctly predict the behavior of complex CH array after RRP.